Encanto: Does Every Animated Film Need To Be A Musical?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A family is each gifted with superpowers by a miracle however when one of the members of the unit does not receive her powers then things start to fall apart and the family has to work through there issues to restore the magic.

I am very mixed on this film. On the one hand, the message is very good and important and one that is worth remembering by everyone in the audience. Furthermore, the film does manage to connect emotionally and pulls on all the right heartstrings to make you feel something and care about the characters.

However, on the other hand, this film has no stakes and there is no real journey to it. The issues come about because of miscommunication and then the family communicates and everything is fixed, there is no real peril and it all feels very simplistic.

Moreover, the musical numbers start to get in the way of the plot. By that I mean they are unnecessary, overused and not particularly good. As I have said before there is something about the Lin Manuel Miranda style of musical that doesn’t jive with me and that I find irritating, having what could easily be dialogue sung for the sake of it is not clever or inventive- it feels lazy.

Overall, though some parts of the film connected with me for the most part it either left me cold or slight underwhelmed. Certainly not worth seeing at the cinema, wait until you can watch it for free.

Pros.

The message

Stephanie Beatriz in the lead role

The emotional resonance

Cons.

The songs

The lack of real character journey or stakes

It has pacing issues

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Big Mouth: Season 5 Overview

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The kids face off against love and hate.

I thought after last season this was an improvement, that is not to say that last season was bad more that it went a bit too heavy on its themes of anxiety and future dread, this I felt did a better job as it tackled and did justice to its themes whilst keeping things moving at a fairly nice breezy pace.

Moreover, I thought the jokes were more on point this time around as it returned to the comedic ability of earlier seasons having me laughing quite a few times per episode. In terms of emotional weight I think this film tackles teenage love, unrequited love and hate all quite well having the characters go on believable journeys throughout the season. I enjoyed the scene where Nick, voiced by Nick Kroll, ventures into the monster world to find out who the boss is only for it to be the real life actor Nick Kroll, I thought the metaphor of you being in control and being the boss of your emotions was apt and quite poignant for the show.

If the show was going to end I would say that scene should have been the last of the show.

Moreover, I enjoyed the Christmas episode quite a bit as well. At first the idea of an anthology of stories seemed to be irritating as it was taking us out of the action, however it actually served as quite a nice pallet cleanser and had a number of great segments.

Overall, a strong season that saw a closer return to form for the show.

Pros.

It is funny

It is heartfelt

The Christmas special

The live action scene

Cons.

On occasion it belabours its points and drags them out for too long

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Star Wars Visions: Lop And Ocho

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

On a distant world a family is driven apart by the influence of the Empire, with one young alien Lop, voiced by Seiran Kobayashi, forced to take up arms to keep her family together.

I enjoyed the focus on family here, I always think Star Wars is at its best when it is telling familial tales of fractured families. In that regard I really bought the father daughter dynamic. However, I struggled to believe the sister dynamic as I thought it did not receive enough development. In the final shots of the episode when such a key focus is placed on family and sisterhood the payoff doesn’t land as the two characters have not really spend much screen time together.

In terms of animation I thought this one looked good and I enjoyed how stylised the battle scenes were, particularly the when the lightsabre got involved. The battle sequence felt just the right length to convey the importance of the moment and the emotion, without beginning to feel repetitive.

My main gripe with this episode comes back to things I have already said here, the pacing is off. This episode could have done with being ten minutes longer, it could have scored higher if it had been as it could have devoted more of its runtime to the sister dynamic and shown the sway of the dark side more than just implying it. However, as it is it just feels like it is missing something.

Overall, a good episode, but one that could have been improved by being longer.

Pros.

The father daughter dynamic

The animation style

The focus on the Jedi and Lightsabres significance

The ending

Cons.

The sister dynamic needed more work

It felt like it was missing something on the whole

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Ron’s Gone Wrong: The Most Toxic Message Of The Year

0.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

In a dystopia where children need a personal robot to be their friend and post everything they do online one boy, voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer, complains to his family about not having one and then is unhappy when he gets a discounted one. An unhealthy friendship ensues.

Don’t take your kids to see this. Don’t waste your money. There are so, so many better animated films out there that actually have a positive message and enrich those who view them, this only serves to cause harm. This is one of the worst animated films I have seen in a long time.

Firstly, the main boy inspires no sympathy because whilst yes he is a social outcast once he gets a friend in his damaged robot Ron, voiced by Zach Galifianakis, he immediately puts him down and treats him like dirt. Insisting that he gets to pick his friends and because Ron is not perfect out of the box he doesn’t want to know him, what sort of message is this sending to kids? Yes, as the film goes on her learns the error of his ways, but by that point he is already a loathsome lead.

Secondly, this film seems to view the younger generation as being unable to function without constantly being online, which I don’t believe is true. Rather it is more likely to be a cynical Gen X or older view of ‘these young people today always on their phones’, which honestly was never more than a gross generalisation. The world that this film is set in is honestly a hellscape, with big tech companies being basically all powerful, and viewed in this context the whole film becomes incredibly depressing, was that the point?

Thirdly, and in my opinion the most grievous of all, this film treats online issues as throwaway lines and worse yet jokes. Within the film one of the characters Savannah, voiced by Kylie Cantrall, becomes the victim of online bullying as she is labelled ‘poop girl’. This presents the film with the opportunity to tackle an issue that is effecting a lot of young people around the globe, however, rather than do this it trivialises the issue, overlooks it in favour of continuing the main plot and then uses it as a joke as the film almost wants you to laugh at her for being called ‘poop girl’. In my mind not only is this a wasted opportunity but also it is incredibly dangerous.

Overall, this film highlights everything wrong with modern animation, and children should not be allowed to see it.

Pros

Ron is a nice character who made me laugh

Cons.

It is harmful

Using online bullying as a joke

The main kid is a brat and the film says his friend with Ron is good when in fact it is deeply unhealthy

Kids today, and how again Hollywood executives don’t know the first thing

It’s message is rotten

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Injustice: Superman, From Boy Scout To Fascist

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Adapting Year One of the Injustice comic run this film imagines a world where the Joker, voiced by Kevin Pollak, gets the last laugh on the heroes by killing Lois Lane, voiced by Laura Bailey, and turning Superman, voiced by Justin Hartley, into a murderous tyrant.

Having read most of the Injustice run I can say that this film gets a lot right. It keeps things simple for the most part, as the comic itself goes into all sorts of crazy directions, which I find works in the film’s favour as you get a neat narrative that is easy to follow whilst also keeping in most of the memorable moments from the comic run.

I enjoyed seeing the Injustice world realised on screen and seeing these groups of heroes facing off against each other, it is a fun game of cat and mouse that is constantly adapting and switching positions. My one complaint in this regard is that the ending of the film wraps things up neatly and doesn’t leave a whole lot open for a sequel, which is a shame as this film could be the start of a few films.

I am glad to see the brutality and gore from The Killing Joke has carried over into this, as the tale really can’t be done justice in a bloodless and child friendly way. This is a dark story for an older audience.

I have two issues with this film that have kept it from achieving full marks, firstly I don’t like the Green Arrow, voiced by Reid Scott, Harley Quinn, voiced by Gillian Jacobs, scenes and secondly it bugged me that this film left out Aquaman, voiced by Phil LaMarr. I understand why they kept in the Green Arrow Harley scenes as the two get a lot of time together in the early days of the comic run but their scenes together really add nothing to the narrative and only feel like they have been included to kill time. Moreover, missing out Aquaman seems like a huge oversight as he is important in the comic run and also leads a country so could have been a good ally to have on side.

Overall, another strong animation from DC.

Pros.

It simplifies the story

The ending

The thrill of heroes fighting

The big moments carry over

Cons.

Leaving out Aquaman

Green Arrow and Harley

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What If: The Watcher Broke His Oath?

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Uatu, voice by Jeffery Wright, assembles the Guardians of the Multiverse to fight back against Ultron.

This was a good episode, but it wasn’t as good as the previous week’s episode and that is the crux of why I feel disappointed.

There was infinite possibilities for what they could have done here, but the no new characters rule again hamstrings the series. Instead of new characters and abilities we get the same old same old, Thor, voiced by Chris Hemsworth, using his hammer, Gamora, voiced by Cynthia McWilliams, using a sword, etc- we have seen that before. The only interesting part of the battle was seeing the various monstrosities that evil Dr Strange, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, could summon out of him.

I thought the ending had promise, though was also a little bit sloppy. The ending sees the evil Dr Strange holding the warring factions in a pocket dimension never to be allowed out, they will obviously escape. I just think they could have done so much more with it, with Zola and Ultron and maybe a combination of the two, but no.

I liked that this episode brought back a lot of characters from most of the episodes of the show and helped it feel connected together, rather than just a series of one-offs.

Overall, a strong ending but not as good as the penultimate episode.

Pros.

Assembling a new team

The animation

The promise of what the ending brings

Cons.

The ending feels a bit too easy

It would have been nice to see some new characters feature

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Star Wars Visions: The Village Bride

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Shortly after the Great Purge a fallen jedi is called to a world threatened by bandits wherein she rediscovers her connection to the Force.

I found this episode to be mixed, whilst there were some interesting things set up and explored for the most part this episode feels incredibly slow and dull. Things start to heat up as the action goes down later in the episode but until that point it feels like a slow meditation over man’s relationship with the world around him which is not what I am watching for.

F, voiced by Asami Seto, is an intriguing hero. We are left to speculate how they survived the Purge and who trained them, I think by not giving us a definitive answer it really helps to boost the mystery of the character as it leaves a lot open to our interpretation and imagination. Sadly, the non-F characters don’t fare as well, with most of them being bland and devoid of anything barely resembling a personality.

The animation/art style here lends itself quite well to the Star Wars world, with it really shining during the later battle sequences, probably my second favourite of the series so far after that of the first episode.

Overall, a slow start weakens the episode but a good climax becomes a new hope for it.

Pros.

The final battle

Leaving things vague about F’s origins

The animation/art style

Cons.

A very slow start

Weak side characters

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The Addams Family 2: Still Trying To Live Up To The Live Action Version

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Addams Family are back once again, and this time they are going on a road trip.

Whilst this is not a great film, it still pales deeply when compared to the live action version, it is better than the first animated film which did not seem to understand the IP. This film at least seems to understand the characters better and uses them in a way that feels truer than what we got the last time around.

There are a number of wonderfully weird moments sprinkled in throughout this film that I feel enhance it, they help to tap into the odd sensibilities of the franchise and play on its macabre sense of humour to a great degree. Some of these moments are better than others of course, but most are at least somewhat entertaining.

My issue with this film is that the central story of Wednesday, voiced by Chloe Grace Mortez, not fitting in with her family and then believing herself to be adopted, being kidnapped, only to then be rescued and reassured by her actual family, the Addams, is contrived. How many times will we have to repeat the same stories over and over again in Hollywood before writers come up with something new? Honesty it is getting to a point where I can accurately predict the endings of films within the first few minutes, please freshen up your story telling.

Overall, a slightly better version of the previous film though the story focus does hold it back.

Pros.

It understands the characters more

There are some deeply strange moments

The sensibilities are there

Cons.

The whole Wednesday story

Fester’s side arc

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What If: Ultron Won?

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Ultron, voiced by Ross Marquand, is not defeated and has achieved his aim in removing life from the universe, now he has his sights set on the multiverse.

This was what I wanted from What If right from the beginning. Finally, after almost the entire season the show gets me to stand up and take notice. Why? Well for two important reasons. Firstly, this episode fixed one of my biggest issues with the show as a whole namely that Uatu, voiced by Jeffery Wright, is barely a character and has no purpose beyond reading out exposition. Here he had a central role, and we explored his character further. Secondly, this episode also bucks the trend of keeping things self-contained and brings in characters from other episodes.

I am very excited to see where the show can go from here because with it now becoming a whole narrative rather than separate individual tales it means we could see a new team arise in the final episode, a defenders of the multiverse perhaps; that will of course carry over to live action.

Furthermore, I think this episode does justice to Ultron. The threat is very present here and Ultron becomes a rival to Uatu himself which highlights just how powerful and intriguing the character can be when Joss Whedon is not writing him.

Overall, a stellar episode and one which has me excited for what is to come next week.

Pros.

Getting Ultron right

Having characters crossover

The ending

Giving Uatu focus and exploration

A strong sense of threat

Cons.

The human story was less interesting and felt like a distraction

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What If: Thor Were An Only Child

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Thor, Chris Hemsworth, comes to Earth to party.

This was a very watchable episode of What If, it was by no means the best, but it had its moments. I found this to be the funniest of all the episodes so far and it made me laugh quite a few times, Jane Foster, Natalie Portman, and Darcy Lewis, Kat Dennings have all the best lines.

Moreover, I enjoyed the back and forth battle scenes between Thor and Captain Marvel, Alexandra Daniels, they were very reminiscent of Tom and Jerry or Looney Tunes and had a good escalation. I found Captain Marvel to again be too self-righteous and dower to be any real fun, the only time I found her character amusing was during the final scene when she has the joke about helping Thor study. The MCU really needs to go out of its way to make the Captain Marvel character more fun and likeable because right now she is a buzzkill, though maybe that was the point of the episode.

I did not like the ending and I felt like it came out of nowhere, indeed having Ultron show up with a completed infinity gauntlet simply to end the episode seems like a silly and needless decision, they could have just ended it neatly at the wrap up of the party sequence.

Overall, a fun episode but not one without its fair share of issues.

Pros.

Thor

The comedy

It’s fun

Cons.

The ending

Captain Marvel

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